This invention relates to apparatuses and methods for hitching a trailer to a vehicle, and particularly to devices for making it easier to bring a trailer and vehicle hitch, connect them together and thereafter disconnect them.
In the use of vehicle trailers, for example, boat trailers, horse trailers and recreational house trailers, the trailer hitch typically comprises a first portion mounted on the vehicle, ordinarily a ball, and a second portion mounted on the tongue of the trailer, known as a receiver there the first portion is a ball. The first portion connects the second portion to hitch the trailer; in the case there the first portion is a ball, the receiver fits over the ball to hitch the trailer to the vehicle.
One of the problems in hitching a trailer to a vehicle is that it may be difficult, because of the terrain there the trailer is parked, to back the vehicle right up to the tongue of the trailer there the receiver is attached. Another difficulty is that, even if the terrain permits the driver to bring the rear of the vehicle in proximity with the tongue of the trailer, it is difficult for the driver to align the first portion of the hitch with the second portion of the hitch laterally. A third difficulty, particularly associated with a ball and receiver type hitch, is that the weight of the trailer often requires the tongue to be lifted by a jack in order to place the receiver over and on top of the ball.
Partial solutions to these problems have previously been developed. For example, hand crank winches mounted on a trailer for pulling the trailer to the vehicle using a rope or cable attached to the winch are disclosed in Norton et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,085,408, International Patent Publication No. WO 90/10550 and German Patent No. 1,022,099. However, none shows an adequate means for aligning the trailer hitch receiver with the trailer hitch ball. Norton et al. also shows a hand crank trailer jack attached to the trailer. However, this requires the coordinated operation of two hand cranks, that is, the crank for the winch and the crank for the jack. Lazar U.S. Pat. No. 5,080,386 shows a plate assembly associated with the ball portion of a trailer hitch for guiding the receiver portion up and over the ball portion of a trailer hitch assembly. However, it shows no means for providing the lifting force or the force for pulling the trailer forward toward the vehicle.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved means for making it easier to pull a trailer and vehicle together, align the portion of the trailer hitch on the trailer with the portion on the vehicle and, in the case of a ball and receiver type hitch, raise the receiver portion over and on to the ball portion for attachment thereto, and release the receiver portion from the ball portion in order to disconnect the trailer.